Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Red leveling area (I)

As she remembered, and honoring the color of the circle which had led her there, the area was red. Perhaps not entirely red, but it was the color that predominated in the flowers, herbs and tree leaves. It was comparable to autumn in some of her home world forests.

It wasn't forest as thick as the goblins' one. Instead, it alternated wooded areas with large meadows. In the game, every week there was a stampede of thousands of the inhabitants of the area that brought together hundreds of players. It was the ideal event to level up when in the right level range, or to farm certain types of materials.

Gjaki came out of the cave and summoned three Bats to explore in different directions. She wanted to grasp the situation, and whether there was any suitable prey nearby. She had managed to replenish her blood pool by hunting with the goblins but, there wasn't much stored. So, she intended to fix it as soon as possible.

It didn't take her long to discover something that made her frown. One of her Bats had spotted a huge boar two and a half meters tall, which weighed several tons. As it was at level 28, it was a prey that was within her reach.

However, while she was watching it and planning to approach the place, her prey had been attacked with arrows and spears. It had even been confronted by a heavily armored lizard woman with a powerful shield. Without a doubt, they were adventurers.

"There're people, or something similar. That make things complicated."

She decided that a Bat would watch them discreetly, while they skinned the prey and returned to their camp, which wasn't far away. Their lookout had spotted the boar while the others were resting, so they had seized the opportunity. Since there wasn't much left to the sunrise, they decided to have breakfast and break camp. They would continue exploring as soon as the sun rose.

Gjaki decided to move in the opposite direction, where another of her scouts had spotted a herd. It consisted of some black gazelles, three-horned reddish-haired rhinoceroses, dark red horses whose manes seemed to burn like fire, and other herbivores seeking the safety of the group.

She ordered it to circle around, to look for other adventurers, though it only found a few predators lurking. They were waiting for an opportunity, and were reluctant to come closer. The components of that herd were between level 26 and 32, and had different skills, some of them offensive. If they were used at the same time, they could be fearsome to even the fiercest predator.

Of course, that didn't mean they were completely safe. Among other things, the herd wasn't compact, since everyone had to look for their own food. Therefore, there were always vulnerable prey in the area furthest from its center.

However, it wasn't easy to catch them. If the attack wasn't fast enough, they would have a chance to take refuge in the herd again. Other option was to cut off their retreat, which was what a pack of big cats was trying to do.

Their skin was spotted. It alternating dark red with almost black spots, and it blended well with the tall red grasses. They were relatively corpulent, looked like jaguars, and were slightly larger than lions. In the game, they were called Vermilion Panthers.

Their prey was one of the three gazelles they had sneaked up on, around which they had strategically positioned themselves. One of those panthers suddenly got up and lunged at them, although it did not manage to reach them, nor was it its role.

The three gazelles shot off in three different directions. One of them passed right next to another of the felines, which was hidden in the brush. It jumped on its prey. Its teeth, which were protected and enhanced by the Slaughter skill, overcame the Exoskeleton's defense. That skill could briefly protect the gazelles, but this time it had been overmatched.

Two other panthers quickly pounced to finish off the prey, which immediately they began to devour.

Another of the black gazelles had managed, after a brief detour, to reach the safety of the herd, while the third had sought refuge in the nearby forest. However, it wasn't its lucky day.

When it summoned Exoskeleton, it was already too late. It had gotten too close to the vampiress, who had been observing the situation. Cloaked in Darkness, she had used Weak Point to find where to Backstab.

The two levels of difference had barely been enough to force her to extend the use of Weak Point before severing the unsuspecting victim's jugular. It took no more than a few seconds for it to collapse, and the little Gjakis hurried to get the skin, flesh, and blood.

She couldn't use the blood yet, as it was two levels higher than hers. However, she was very close to the next one, and hoped it wouldn't take long to raise some more levels.

The smell of blood attracted one of the lowest-ranked felines within the hunting pack, at level 30. As such, it was one of the last to have a chance to eat, so it had wanted to take advantage of the opportunity the feline thought it had found.

It tried to attack one of the attendants, or rather the meat it was carrying, but a Fleeting Dagger pierced its leg. Although the Oracle had said that her assistants could regenerate, she wasn't about to let anyone attack them.

Immediately, four vampiresses surrounded the feline, though three of them were illusory. That made it unable to discover the real whip, which latched onto its neck at one end, and a branch at the other.

It wasn't a very strong binding, but it was enough to hold it for a few seconds. She then combined Ventriloquist, to make it focus its attention on one of the illusions, with Disrupt to distract it for a moment. Also, Weak Point helped her decide where to attack, and with Blood Overload she was able to reduce the consequences of the level difference.

The wound on its leg had been superficial, but the two Double Edges on one of its knees managed to disable one of his hind legs, thus causing it to stumble. Despite that, it tried to slash with a paw, while twisting as it fell. She dodged by sheer reflexes and agility.

Gjaki took advantage of it to catch its leg between her shoulder and her hands. She pressed the paw and leveraged it with her shoulder to fracture its bone. It was an adapted application of one Martial Art, and her enemy hadn't had time to react.

Even with two legs disabled, the feline tried to resist. However, after a Slippery Dagger, the vampiress dodged the desperate attack and reached for its neck, in which she stuck both daggers.

Immediately, she pulled back, left the daggers stuck, and wielded a spear. It pierced the panther through the mouth with which it was trying to threaten her, thus finishing it off.